We will go forth Boldly and Nobly!

Hola Personas,

You will be happy to hear that in the last two weeks Elder Cottam and I have gone to jail 5 times. But thankfully every time we have gone we have always been on the correct side of the glass. We have also had in our possession alcohol and tobacco. We went to visit a guy and he was so drunk he could barely walk and barely talk. He had already put down half of a bottle of Vodka so we took it from him to keep him from drinking the whole thing and possibly end up killing him self.

We had tobacco because we are helping a man get over smoking so that he can be baptized and we were teaching him about faith and we used a visual aid, which is a rat trap, and we used the cigarette to set it off. Normally we break a pencil in it to show the power. After that we have the investigators set it off with their finger, to test their faith. We call it the rat trap of faith.

Going to jail is a little sad because one person that we visited is a member who got caught driving without a license and she is probably going to be deported. It will be sad to see her go but hopefully she will be back pretty soon. Her husband had all of his papers and it is really easy for him to travel across the border.

The other person we visited is one of our investigators, Oscar, and he might be in big trouble with the law. I, thankfully, don't know the whole situation but we are going to try to visit him and help him, partially at the request of his wife, Dulce. We have been teaching her and last night we set a baptismal date with her and her sister. We also gave Oscar un Libro de Mormon to read in jail. We are really seeing good things with this family. Hopefully everything will work out in the end. They are all very interested in learning more about the Gospel and we are really excited for them to be part of the branch.

One miracle that we have seen in our area started before I got here. Elder Cottam and Elder Sandoval were tracting in Nyssa,OR and met a guy named Oscar, who told them that he would be moving, but that he would like to hear more. He told them that he was moving to a house near a Mexican store in Ontario.

A few weeks later, after I had gotten to the area, we stopped by the same house to ask if they knew Oscar, and where he lives. There was a man outside and he said that he didn't know who Oscar is. He then asked it we were the police. After we explained who we are and what we do, he told us that he knows Oscar and he told us his name, Cornelio, and said that Oscar lives close to him, in Ontario, on Oregon Street. He gave us, what we call Idaho directions, to his house and after 30 minutes of searching we found it, and taught him a lesson and he invited us back.

So after a few weeks of teaching him and his family, he brought Oscar, his wife and children to church, with out us saying anything to him. Then later that week we went to visit Cornelio, wanting to ask him about Oscar and if he would be interested in hearing more. When we got to his house and he wasn't there we gave him a call and he told us that he was at Oscar's house, and he came back to his house and drove us to Oscar's. They are very interested in hearing more and we are excited to teach them more.

It is to bad to see how Satan works to try to stop the work from progressing. The member who is going to be deported was going to get sealed to her husband the week after she was detained. And things were progressing well with Oscar and then he gets put in jail as well. The good thing to remember is that "[nothing] can stop the work from progressing...but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." (The Standard of Truth)

We will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent in the work of the Lord and help all hear the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love,

Elder Paxton